lire

See also: lirë and liře

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old English līra (“any fleshy part of the body, muscle, calf of the leg”), from Proto-Germanic *ligwizô, *lihwizô (“thigh, groin”), from Proto-Indo-European *lekʷs-, *lewks- (“groin”). Cognate with Dutch lies (“groin”), Swedish lår (“thigh”).

Noun

lire (plural lires)

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Flesh, brawn, or muscle; the fleshy part of a person or animal in contradistinction to the bone and skin.
2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The fleshy part of a roast capon, etc. as distinguished from a limb or joint.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lire, lyre, from Old Norse hlýr (“cheeks”, plural). Compare Middle English lere, from Old English hlēor (“cheek, countenance, complexion”). More at leer.

Noun

lire (plural lires)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland) The cheek.
2. (UK dialectal, Scotland) Face; appearance of the face or skin; complexion; hue.

Etymology 3

From Old Norse líri. Cognate with Norwegian lira.

Noun

lire (plural lires)

1. (UK dialectal, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, ornithology) The Manx shearwater (bird).

Etymology 4

From Italian lire.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹə
• Homophone: lyre (some pronunciations)

Noun

lire

1. plural of lira

Anagrams

• Iler, Irel., Lier, Reil, Riel, lier, riel, rile

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liʁ/

• Audio (Paris):

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Homophones: lires, lyre, lyrent, lyres
• Rhymes: -iʁ

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French lire, from Latin legere, from Proto-Italic *legō, from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-.

Verb

lire

1. (ambitransitive) to read
2. (reflexive, se lire) to be read

Conjugation

Conjugation of lire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	lire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	lisant /li.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		lu /ly/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	lis /li/	lis /li/	lit /li/	lisons /li.zɔ̃/	lisez /li.ze/	lisent /liz/
	imperfect	lisais /li.zɛ/	lisais /li.zɛ/	lisait /li.zɛ/	lisions /li.zjɔ̃/	lisiez /li.zje/	lisaient /li.zɛ/
	past historic2	lus /ly/	lus /ly/	lut /ly/	lûmes /lym/	lûtes /lyt/	lurent /lyʁ/
	future	lirai /li.ʁe/	liras /li.ʁa/	lira /li.ʁa/	lirons /li.ʁɔ̃/	lirez /li.ʁe/	liront /li.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	lirais /li.ʁɛ/	lirais /li.ʁɛ/	lirait /li.ʁɛ/	lirions /li.ʁjɔ̃/	liriez /li.ʁje/	liraient /li.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	lise /liz/	lises /liz/	lise /liz/	lisions /li.zjɔ̃/	lisiez /li.zje/	lisent /liz/
	imperfect2	lusse /lys/	lusses /lys/	lût /ly/	lussions /ly.sjɔ̃/	lussiez /ly.sje/	lussent /lys/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	lis /li/	—	lisons /li.zɔ̃/	lisez /li.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• lire dans les pensées
• lire en diagonale
• lire en quelqu'un comme dans un livre ouvert
• lire entre les lignes
• lire sur les lèvres
• relire

Related terms

• élire
• élu
• illisibilité
• illisible
• illisiblement
• lecteur, lectrice
• légende
• lisibilité
• lisible
• lisiblement
• relecture

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: li

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Italian lira, compare French livre.

Noun

lire f (plural lires)

1. lira (unit of currency)

Further reading

• “lire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• lier

Italian

Noun

lire f

1. plural of lira

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German.

Noun

lire f (definite singular lira, indefinite plural lirer, definite plural lirene)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse líri m, likely onomatopoetic.

Noun

lire f (definite singular lira, indefinite plural lirer, definite plural lirene)

1. shearwater

Derived terms

• havlire

Etymology 3

Italian plural of lira, from Latin libra (“pound, weight”). Doublet of lira.

Noun

lire m (definite singular liren, indefinite plural lirar or lire, definite plural lirane)

2. (numismatics) lira (currency of Italy)

References

• “lire” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin legere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliɾə/

Verb

lire

1. (ambitransitive) to read
2. (reflexive, se lire) to be read

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of lire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		lire			avoir leü, lit
gerund		en lisant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		lisant
past participle		leü, lit
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	li	lis	list	lisons	lisiez	lisent
	imperfect	lisoie, liseie	lisoies, liseies	lisoit, liseit	lisiiens, lisiens	lisiiez, lisiez	lisoient, liseient
	preterite	lui, lis	leüs, lesis	lut, list	leümes, lesimes	leüstes, lesistes	lurent, listrent
	future	lirai	liras	lira	lirons	liroiz, lireiz, lirez	liront
	conditional	liroie, lireie	liroies, lireies	liroit, lireit	liriiens, liriens	liriiez, liriez	liroient, lireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	lise	lises	lise	lisiens, lisons	lisiez	lisent
	imperfect	leüsse, lesisse	leüsses, lesisses	leüst, lesist	leüssons, leüssiens, lesissons, lesissiens	leüssoiz, leüssez, leüssiez, lesissoiz, lesissez, lesissiez	leüssent, lesissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	lis	—	lisons	lisiez	—

Related terms

• eslire
• relire

Descendants

• French: lire

Further reading

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (lire)